With just a week left before the second season of the Dota 2 2021 DPC, teams continue to make significant roster changes in hopes of getting to the next Major. In Europe, former TI-champion Team Nigma announced that Aliwi “w33” Omar is now on inactive status. In the Dota 2 esports scene, putting a player on such a status usually means letting that player look for new teams but not having that player fend for himself.
In the CIS region, fans of Vladimir “No[o]ne” Minenko should be happy to know that he is now officially with AS Monaco Gambit. There’s also a big roster change in SEA that we look into today.
Looking to Bring Back Glory
The roster that is Nigma was previously Team Liquid, the same roster that won TI7 and then placed fourth in TI8. On the road to TI9, the team decided to let go of Lasse Aukusti "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen and signed w33. In TI9, they placed second after OG.
Since that time, Nigma has been performing well but not to the level of a former TI champion and almost two-time TI winner. In the recently concluded Singapore Major, they made it to the Wild Card stage yet got eliminated and ended at last place. They only won one out of 10 games played.
It’s not surprising to know that it was w33 who got the boot considering he was not part of the roster that won TI7.
In a tweet, Nigma confirmed that w33 is indeed on inactive status and for now is considered as the sixth player. Nigma added that w33 is free to “pursue any opportunity” should it arise.
Who do you think is Nigma signing to replace him?
Part of the Team
Meanwhile, over in CIS, Gambit announced that No[o]ne is now officially part of the team. He was initially signed back in February as a stand-in. Gambit had made it to the Wild Card of the SG Major and missed the Group Stage after falling in a tie-breaker with Liquid.
About the signing of No[o]ne, Gambit hasn’t issued any statement so far except a tweet.
Get Motivated
Back in 2020, a team called Motivate.Trust Gaming entered the Dota 2 pro scene and showed promise. The team won the SEA leg of the BTS Pro Series Season 3 and even the DOTA Summit 13 Online. During this success, Fnatic grabbed Natthaphon "Masaros" Ouanphakdee away from the team, while Souliya "JaCkky" Khoomphetsavong joined T1.
Then in January of this year, the team announced a new roster, which meant they had to go through the qualifiers to try and make it in Season 1. They didn’t make it past the qualifiers.
It looks like the team is serious in its preparation for Season 2. In a Facebook post, the team announced that Masaros and JaCkky are back. Joining the team as well is Poomipat "Fearless" Trisiripanit.
You're probably asking what happened to the three current members? Well, it seems they're forming a new team known as Motivate.Viper Gaming but no additional information has been released regarding this team.
What do you think? Is this a good move by Motivate.Trust Gaming?
